Child-Centred Competences for Early Childhood Education and Care

Higher Education (HE) training is associated with the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Despite growing European research exploring key competences for ECEC, competence frameworks for HE ECEC students and support for the self-evaluation of competences are still emerging. One particular competence –childcentredness– is highlighted as important for working with children and underpinning effective, quality pedagogy, but it is a term that is variably interpreted and students struggle to know what it looks like in practice. The project will develop a child-centred competences framework, presented as a matrix to facilitate students in their self-evaluation of competences, alongside innovative, open access, online training to support students in acquiring and developing their child-centred competences. Additional online resources will be developed for mentors to facilitate their role in supporting students in the development of childcentredness.